C. Renuka is Scientist, Kerala
Forest Research Institute,
Kerala, India.
Although the rattan products of South Asian countries have lower market value than those of Southeast Asia, rattan is recognized as an extremely useful forest product in countries throughout the region.
In India, rattan has an important role in the rural economy; many people in remote areas earn their living through extraction and cleaning of rattans. Urban people are employed in small-scale rattan industries. Rattan is not only important as a commodity for the furniture and handicraft industries, but also has a great many other traditional uses: Ancient books report medicinal uses; rattans are used for raft making, house construction, baskets and poles for carrying goods; and rattan leaves are used extensively as a thatching material. In the Nicobar Islands, India, the spiny sheath is used for scraping coconut, while the tribal people of northeastern India make extensive use of long canes in bridge construction. Some species of rattans are used in tribal rituals and festivals.
In Nepal, besides local uses, rattans have great cultural value. The Tharu people (an ethnic group) use rattan sticks in temples, believing them to be holy and capable of warding off evil spirits. Priests keep rattan sticks with them while attending religious functions. Rattans within the temple compounds are well protected and cannot be harvested.
Some indigenous people in Bangladesh use young leaves, roots and shoot tips of rattans as medicines and as a vegetable. Rattans are among the most important natural resources of forests in Bangladesh, but cane-based industries are beginning to close because resource depletion has resulted in shortages of raw materials; the industry currently uses imported raw materials. The closures are expected to have a direct effect on socio-economic conditions, particularly for the workers in rattan industries - mostly women who depend on the work to meet their basic needs.
The rattan craft is a traditional occupation in 18 of the 24 districts of Sri Lanka. It is estimated that about 3 000 people are directly engaged in rattan industries, earning at least one-third of family income through the craft. Shortage of raw material, however, is challenging the industry, and bamboo, plastic and cotton materials are replacing rattan. Since 1986 rattan exports from Sri Lanka have been negligible, allegedly because of the low quality of the products.
